The Remains of the Day (1993)
I first saw this when it had it's vhs rental all those years ago, i couldn't remember a thing about it going into it twenty seven years later.
I have to say i found it very good. It's not an easy watch, in fact at times it's so frustrating, there's no real drama so to speak, the movie rests on the script and the performances of which both are so well realised.
Anthony Hopkins is brilliant in a powerful performance of restraint as the butler of Darlington Hall, his repressed relationship with Emma Thompson's (Equally brilliant) housekeeper is frustratingly yet beautifully played out as is the central story of Lord Darlington (James Fox) attempting to broker appeasement with Nazi Germany and incorporating Nazi racial views into his household.
The Remains of the Day is a subtle movie, it's stories of pride, misguided loyalty, wasted lives and loves that can never be are coaxed out into the open by director James Ivory and although there are several funny moments the overall effect is a superbly crafted film that is both beautifully poignant and engrossingly complex.
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